Site Visit & Analysis (Rail A)
Visit one real Bloomington nonprofit, set its Form 990 against a second org's, and decode it in one report. 50 points, individual, in four steps.
50 points · individual. You engage one real Bloomington-area nonprofit: visit it, pull its public Form 990, set that filing against a second org’s from a different subsector (no second visit), and write the report that reads the visit and the real numbers together. AI can help you prepare and draft, but it can’t stand in the building or place the call, and that’s the point.
The three checkpoints are credit / no-credit: scored on whether the work is genuinely there, they bank 30 of the 50 points and tell me early if a visit is falling through. The report is the one rubric-graded piece. Submit everything on Canvas.
The four steps
| # | Step | Points | Due | Marking | Built in |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | On-Ramp: candidate org + backup + outreach email | 5 | Sun Sep 6 | credit | Week 2 |
| A2 | Visit evidence: proof-of-contact + the 990 pulled | 10 | Sun Oct 4 | credit | Week 6 |
| A3 | 990 comparison: your org and a second org, side by side | 15 | Sun Oct 18 | credit | Week 8 |
| A4 | Final report: the organization, decoded | 20 | Sun Nov 15 | rubric | Week 12 |
| Total | 50 |
A1 · On-Ramp: 5 points
Due Sun Sep 6, 11:59 PM · credit / no-credit · set up in Week 2.
Small and early, so nobody discovers in October that they have no organization. Submit:
- a candidate org and a backup, each with its EIN and ProPublica 990 link, plus one sentence on its subsector and why you want to visit. Pick orgs that file a full 990 or a 990-EZ, not the 990-N e-Postcard (the 990 Lab how-to explains why);
- your first outreach email, actually sent, pasted in with the date.
If your first choice never replies, that’s expected: use the fallback ladder and flag it at a progress check-in.
A2 · Visit evidence: 10 points
Due Sun Oct 4, 11:59 PM · credit / no-credit · the usual visit window is Sep 14 – Fri Oct 2.
Visit booked for later? That’s fine. Submit evidence to A2 in Canvas by Sun Oct 4, 11:59 PM that the organization has confirmed your visit, such as an email showing the organization, contact, and scheduled date. You may complete the visit and upload the remaining A2 work afterward without a late penalty or using a late pass. A sent request awaiting a reply is not a confirmed booking.
Your booked visit still has to happen before A4 is due (Sun Nov 15): the final report’s fourth job is what the room told you.
For the completed visit, submit:
- proof-of-contact: a dated on-site photo, a named staff contact, an emailed confirmation, or a logged live call;
- the org’s Form 990, linked, with the tax year you’ll work from (mixing years is the most common mistake in this rail);
- three or four lines of raw notes.
This is the early-warning checkpoint: I find out in October, not mid-November, if your org has gone silent.
A3 · 990 comparison: 15 points
Due Sun Oct 18, 11:59 PM · credit / no-credit · built in the Week 8 lab session · template (.docx).
One organization is an anecdote; two make a comparison. Pick one comparison org in a different subsector (a food bank against an arts venue, not a second food bank), pull its 990, and read it against your org’s filing. You never contact the comparison org; its public filing does the talking.
- Both orgs identified: legal name, EIN, filing link, tax year (full 990 or 990-EZ).
- A side-by-side table on four rows: size and revenue mix · where the money goes · people · which failure theory each money pattern suggests. Every figure needs a location: “Part IX” is not a location; “Part IX, line 25, column A, p. 10” is.
- One sentence naming the sharpest contrast. It usually becomes the spine of your report.
Credit for a checkable comparison org, a table genuinely filled with cited figures from both filings, and a contrast sentence that names something real.
A4 · Final report: 20 points
Due Sun Nov 15, 11:59 PM · rubric-graded · max 4 pages, single-spaced (tables and the AI log don’t count) · clinic in Week 12 · template (.docx).
The culmination of the rail: decode your organization by reading the visit, the filing, and the A3 comparison together. The template’s sections are a starting structure, not a form; the four jobs are
- the organization and its role in its subsector;
- why a nonprofit: the failure theory that best explains it, and where social capital shows up (Module 3);
- the funding story: where the money comes from and goes, traced to the filing, and what the cross-subsector comparison reveals;
- what the room told you that no filing could.
| What’s assessed | Points |
|---|---|
| Accurate, cited 990 and subsector data for both orgs | 4 |
| Correct application of failure theory + social capital | 6 |
| The funding story and a genuine cross-subsector comparison | 4 |
| Grounding in the visit: what being there added | 3 |
| Clarity and ownership of your reasoning | 2 |
| Specificity and checkability of the AI process log | 1 |
How AI fits
Use AI to prepare interview questions, test which theories fit, draft and tighten, and find subsector peers. But verify anything it claims about a real org against the website, the filing, or the person you spoke with; your AI process log records what you caught.